Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu distanced himself Wednesday afternoon from a letter Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman wrote to the Quartet calling for new elections to be held in the Palestinian Authority and the election of a "new, legitimate, hopefully realistic Palestinian leadership."
A source in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said the letter "does not reflect the position of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu or the government as a whole."
The source said that while there is acknowledgement in the Prime Minister's Office that PA President Mahmoud Abbas has created difficulties that have prevented the resumption of negotiations, we nevertheless remain committed to restarting the dialogue with the Palestinians."
"It is not Israel's policy," the source said, "to interfere in the electoral process in other places."
Liberman, in the letter obtained by Ha'aretz's Barak Ravid, called the PA under Abbas a "despotic government riddled with corruption."
"Due to Abbas' weak standing, and his policy of not renewing the negotiations which is an obstacle to peace, the time has come to consider a creative solution, to think 'outside the box,' in order to strengthen the Palestinian leadership," Liberman wrote.
The PMO's response came shortly after chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that Netanyahu must distance himself from comments made by his foreign minister.
"Netanyahu must make it clear that he is not connected to Liberman's comments," Erekat said in an interview with Army Radio.
"If he doesn't do that, we will understand that this is his government's stance, and this would put a question mark over Israel's intentions toward us," he added.

By HERB KEINON. Jpost.com staff contributed to this report

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